Kepa Arrizabalaga to return to Chelsea next summer?
Following the news that Thibaut Courtois had suffered a potentially season-ending ACL injury over the summer, Real quickly moved to poach Kepa from Stamford Bridge for the ongoing campaign.
The 29-year-old — who remains the world's most expensive goalkeeper — did not take long to establish himself as Carlo Ancelotti's number one in the absence of Courtois, starting 10 successive La Liga games and three straight Champions League matches.
However, since spending most of November on the sidelines with an adductor injury, Kepa has struggled to win his place back in the team of Andriy Lunin, being benched for clashes with Granada, Real Betis and Villarreal.
Kepa did belatedly demote Lunin back down to the bench against Alaves on December 21, keeping his seventh clean sheet in 15 games as Real won 1-0, and he has made no secret of his desire to remain with Los Blancos.
The former Athletic Bilbao man's contract does not include an option or obligation to buy, though, and according to AS, his hopes of leaving Chelsea for Real permanently are in jeopardy.
Before making the move back to his homeland, Kepa was on Bayern Munich's shortlist to provide backup to the stricken Manuel Neuer, while Real were prioritising the signing of Bono from Sevilla.
However, a move for Bono did not come to fruition due to the Morocco international's impending participation in the African Cup of Nations, and he ended up joining the influx of Saudi Pro League players with Al-Hilal.
Kepa was behind Bono on Real's list of goalkeeping targets, and he has supposedly left a lot to be desired with his
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